VANDALISM is not a new phenomenon but it never ceases to shock and infuriate in equal measure whenever it happens.

Isolated targets, often shrouded under cover of darkness, are sitting ducks for those intent on causing maximum damage and damn the consequences for people who have to pick up the pieces - literally - afterwards.

Mindless graffiti is another symptom of the same anti-social disease and cleaning up after the spray can scrawlers does not come cheap.

Some targets are hit time after time; others are one-offs.

The neighbouring counties of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire are afflicted by more than their fair share of the effects of the problem.

Evesham townspeople were disgusted last week by obscenities and other graffiti defacing the Abbey Park war memorial, particularly sickening on the eve of the Royal British Legion commemorating its 80th anniversary.

Town mayor, councillor Mark Robinson, thought part of the solution to the problem lay in the home: "The parents don't really give a monkey's and I think the education has to start with the parents," he said.

"We're just too soft with these youngsters; we really are.

"It's getting worse and it's not just Evesham: it's everywhere. It's the youth: they have no respect."

He added: "It makes me want to cry."

Winchcombe town councillor Mr Pat Smith said vandalism was not a major problem in the town but was upsetting, nevertheless, when it happened.

Recent instances included damage to a redundant school being converted for community use.

"It was really quite upsetting and done by people who don't really know what to do with their time," he said.

Scrawling of graffiti behind the library in Back Lane was another recurring problem, which seemed to be "an obsession with some of these youngsters", according to coun Smith.

It was not just children who were responsible for the incidents. The town hall was the target of one recent hooligan attack.

"I'm not sure what age group they were," said councillor Smith.

"They may well have been older because they turned over some big pots."

He believed national service, carried out by people of his generation, might have given them a different perspective.

"At their age, we were looking forward to national service - King and country and all that - which gave you a break from your home environment," he explained.

"You saw a wider world and came back a little bit wiser and appreciated what you had at home."

Over in Stratford, the problem, as in Winchcombe, was not a major one, according to Mick Crutchley, who chairs the town council's general purposes committee.

There were examples, however, such as street benches broken by people bouncing up and down on them.

"Other than that, it's not too bad in Stratford," said coun Crutchley, who added that children's play areas were vulnerable, particularly at night.

He hoped that the installation of CCTV equipment would help to reduce incidents. "The other thing is graffiti," he explained, "which occurs not in town but on the outskirts of town, under bridges."

The damage wrought by the vandals in Stratford had wider implications for the town, said coun Crutchley, possibly hitting its prospects of success in the Britain in Bloom competition, due to be held next month.

"That's where we lose points," he explained, "We lose points for graffiti."

His answer to the general problem of vandalism was increased numbers of police: "We need more police on the streets.

"You've got to have a presence on the streets these days."